Sharon Horvath - Experimental Drawing in the Landscape

Have you ever been told to “loosen up,” without any guidance of how to do so? Would you like to change some old habits or become less judgmental of your artistic efforts?  In this class, the goal is to improve your drawing capability though a series of steps that alternate between landscape drawing from observation and a set of experimental drawing procedures. With a playful risk-taking attitude of “un-striving,” we undertake exercises such as automatic drawing, chance processes, drawing as a link to memory, drawing in relationship to the body, merging writing and drawing, no-hands drawing, and blind drawing. “Homework” will be strongly encouraged as a way of consolidating new knowledge. We will have periodic discussions about your work, but class time will be predominantly drawing time. You’ll discover how working in a guided experimental fashion can open up your mind, hands and eyes to new possibilities. The goal of the class is to see your drawings from observation change and improve by the end of the week, and to learn new exercises that you can use in the future. Students use, but are not limited to, traditional drawing media— wet and dry— on paper or other surfaces as needed. Skill is important, but if you want to further your work you may have to lose it temporarily in a supportive environment! This course is suited to the secretly adventurous student at any level, beginning through advanced.

Sharon Horvath  received her BFA in from Cooper Union, New York and her MFA from Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia. She is Associate Professor of Art at Purchase College, SUNY. Horvath has been the subject of numerous exhibitions in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and abroad. Her numerous awards and grants include the Fulbright-Nehru U.S. Scholar Grant, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Grant for Painting, the Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome, the Anonymous was a Woman Award, the American Academy of Arts and Letters Richard and Hilda Rosenthal Award for Painting, the Edwin Palmer Prize in Painting from the National Academy Museum, two Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grants . The artist is represented by Lori Bookstein Fine Art in NYC, The Drawing Room in East Hampton, NY and the Schoolhouse Gallery in Provincetown, MA. She  lives and works in Queens and Brooklyn, NY.